The Naturalists' Notebook

Norris Green Park is a new venue for us, inspired by Channel 5’s “Great Garden Challenge”, shown on 2nd July. Last autumn, two teams of designers and their helpers made small competing gardens in this run-down public park, which have since been maintained by the Friends. Both areas were still flourishing, and we thought that the winner is still the best one. Although the planting scheme has been altered from the original plan, it is still lovely in shades of purple and yellow, with Lavender, the tall waving Verbena bonariensis and some clumps of a yellow variety of Red-hot poker.

We noted the young Katsura tree in the losing garden, then we headed off to look at the rest of the  park. There was originally a grand 17th century mansion on the spot, built by the Norris family of Speke Hall. It was rebuilt in 1830 and demolished in 1931. The last owner was Lord Derby, who gave the land to the city in 1933, to be used as a public space. The only bit of the 1830 building remaining is a single wall, said to be of the stable block, and which is now Grade II listed and can’t be removed.

Its history as a great estate explains why some of the trees are far bigger, older and more interesting than you would expect from a small municipal park. There were several large Beeches, a huge Small-leaved Lime and an unexpected and elegant Cut-leaved Beech.

On the north edge, in the wild area behind the old stable wall, we stumbled on a grove of uncommon Caucasian Wingnut trees, with their long dangly seed clusters. I have seen single trees elsewhere, but here there were at least six of them, maybe ten. What a find!

They were surrounded by a wild tangle of Buddleia, Bramble and Bindweed, over which a pair of Speckled Wood butterflies were doing their mating dance. The blackberries are ripening and the Brambles are putting out a second flush of flowers.

Then we took a short bus ride along to Newsham Park, greeted at the northern entrance by a pretty wild-ish flower bed, which included a budding spike of Great Mullein, right by the main road.

It was really hot now, and the sun brought out a Painted Lady, several White butterflies, many Common Blue damsel flies on the boating lake and what appeared to be an Emperor Dragonfly. The main fishing lake had lots of algae on the surface, but it wasn’t as bad as last year. A pair of Coots was feeding five chicks, and another pair was nest building for a second (or third?) brood. A Coot and then a young Moorhen stood on a barely-submerged log just below the bridge and let us have a good look at the differences in their feet.

By the bridge were the first red Hawthorn berries we have spotted this year.

In the water under the bridge we got a good look at a really big fish, about two feet long. One of the many fishermen on the banks said it was a Carp. The fishing lake is artificially stocked, of course.

Public transport details: Bus 18 from Queen Square at 10.15, arriving Muirhead Avenue East / Lorenzo Drive at 10.30. Then from Muirhead Avenue East / Almond’s Green on the 18 at 12.50 to Newsham Park, alighting at 1.00.  We all went home in various ways: I got bus 18 at 2.20, arriving City Centre at 2.30.

We had hoped to get to Burscough for their Scarecrow Festival, but the regular bus from Ormskirk to Burscough doesn’t run on Sundays, and there were no special buses provided, so Ormskirk was as far as we got. They have some good parks, though.

Victoria Park at the junction of Ruff Lane and St Helens Road is a tiny triangular patch of trees and formal flower beds, containing an interesting monument. “To the memory of brave men who have fought for their country this column has been erected by public subscription”. It predates the First World War and it commemorates one soldier from the Crimean War and four from the Boer War. The Crimean soldier is Sgt Major James Ikin Nunnerley of the 17th Lancers “one of the six hundred” (i.e. he was in the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854) who survived to become a local celebrity. He ran a draper’s shop in Ormskirk in later life and died in November 1905 aged 75.

Some of the trees are becoming autumnal already, with recognisable seeds. The hanging clusters of Hornbeam seeds were developing, but the Limes were still in flower. I think Ormskirk bought a job lot of Small-leaved Limes some years ago. There are no sprouting leaves at the bases of the trunks, the developing seeds appear to have little points or beaks and the creamy flowers were sticking up above the leaves. That identifies them as Small-leaved.

The monument was flanked by a Weeping Birch, and a flower bed had a pretty Sweet Gum (Liquidambar). An unassuming tree around the edge had leaves with three or five leaflets, but the seeds were clearly some kind of Acer. We couldn’t inspect the bark because there was Ivy on it, but there was another tree nearby with similar leaves, no seeds, and smooth grey bark. I think it was a Box Elder or Ash-leaved Maple, Acer negundo. They come as separate male and female trees, so the one with seeds was a female, of course, while the other must have been the male, carefully planted a few yards away as the other half of the pair. The male trees are the ones that have spectacular tassels of pink catkins in early spring. (See the one we found at Allerton Cemetery in March.)

There weren’t many birds about, just Wood Pigeons, Starlings and Blackbirds. We found a single 7-spot ladybird on some shrubs and a White-tailed Bumble Bee crawling on the grass and looking rather sick. Then we headed off to Coronation Park, spotting a tree on the way with bright red cluster of seeds. It was just a Sycamore, but one genetically endowed with a propensity to be extra-red. A pretty thing.

Many families were out in the park, where there was a funfair, and lots of extra tennis nets set out. There were no interesting birds on their pond, either, just moulting Mallards, Coots, a Moorhen and a flock of Black-headed Gulls. Beyond the drainage ditch is a wetland area / wild flower meadow, and right on the corner of the bridge was a clump of tall plants with purple flowers in whorls. Not any kind of Woundwort, and we eventually concluded it had to be Black Horehound. It differed from the book in being taller than it was supposed to be (4 or 5 feet not 3), lilac not reddish and having no detectable unpleasant smell, but the stems were square and all other features matched

The meadow was full of Meadow Sweet, Teasel and Mugwort, with occasional Tufted Vetch and Field Scabious. Only two butterflies – a Comma and a probable Small Copper.  The edges were planted with young native trees – Larch, Oak and Hornbeam. I have seen one or two Rowan trees with red berries already, but the ones here had berries that were still fawny-brown.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.17, arriving Ormskirk at 10.48.  Returned on the train from Ormskirk at 2.37, arriving Central at 3.10.

A long bus ride, but an easy walk on this hot day. North of the Chester Zoo car park is their small Nature reserve, which is mostly wildflower meadow, but with a bit of woodland, the canal at the north, and some experimental plots.

The meadow was mostly white with Oxeye Daisies, as it has been left to mature since 2017 or 2018, and the annuals like Poppies won’t grow again. But there were Teasels, White and Red Campion, Corn Marigold, White Clover, Rosebay Willowherb, Great Willowherb, a tall trefoil about a foot high which can’t have been the low-growing Birdsfoot Trefoil so was probably Common Trefoil. In one place there was a large clump of Common Toadflax, just coming into flower.

We spotted a Buzzard overhead, and there were a few butterflies, mostly Meadow Browns with two or three Gatekeepers. At the south-east corner they have created three test plots to investigate how to turn fertile farm soil to natural meadows. There is a sign saying what they did and how they expect them to turn out, and each plot is labelled. Either their predictions were wrong, or it will take several more years to turn out as they expect, or they have labelled them the wrong way around. It looks to me like the one labelled plot 3 is thick grass and no flowers, as they expected plot 1 to be, while their plot labelled 1 looks like it has had the topsoil removed and is growing both grass and flowers sparsely. That’s what they say plot 3 was.

Near the pond there were lots of damselflies and a few dragonflies, but they were all moving too fast to photograph or identify. There was a strange little creature motionless on a reed or Iris leaf just outside the hide. It was about the size of a Ladybird (5mm?) but fawn with a big black spot. The colours reminded me of the sawfly larvae Chris F pointed out to us a few years ago. Is it some kind of sawfly pupa? I’d be happy for any suggestions.

Last week I had my first Painted Lady in my garden, feeding on a Hebe shrub. John had seen his first during the week, too. Have a batch of migrants just arrived?

Public transport details: Bus X8 from Sir Thomas Street at 10.20, arriving Chester Zoo 11.15. Returned from the same Zoo bus stop on the X8 at 2.15, arriving Liverpool 3.10.

We don’t often go “twitching” – chasing after rare birds – but today there were reports of two good ones at Marshside RSPB – a Cattle Egret (which we’ve seen before) and a Glossy Ibis (which would be a “lifer” for me).

It was a lovely warm and sunny day, no coats, rolled up sleeves. In Preesall Close, where we got off the bus, there are House Martin nests every year in the eaves of the houses, and there were also Swallows swooping over the marsh. There was a profusion of wild flowers all along the verge of Marshside Rd and continuing on either side of the path down to Sandgrounder’s hide. The dominant plants were lots of a yellow crucifer, which might have been escaped Oil Seed Rape (Canola). In amongst it were Yarrow, White Campion, Poppies, Comfrey, Bindweed, Red and White Clover, Dog Rose and a white umbellifer that wasn’t Cow Parsley or Wild Carrot (white umbellifers aren’t my specialist subject!). Lower down were Hop Trefoil, the sand-dune specialists Rest-Harrow and Dewberry, and a tiny geranium-type flower that was either Small-flowered Cranesbill or Dovesfoot Cranesbill.

On the way to the hide we spotted a couple of Little Egrets, a hovering Kestrel, a flock of Black-tailed Godwits coming in to land, Lapwings, one or two Mute Swans and a couple of hundred Canada Geese, some with parties of goslings. From the hide we also noted Tufted Duck, Coots, Moorhens and Mallards. However the view of all the near islands was dominated by a nesting colony of Black-headed Gulls. They were squawking, squabbling and strutting, and seeing off rivals for their chosen patch of ground. There were many more than we have seen before, the colony is  growing, and they seem to have displaced the Avocets that have nested here in the last few years.

Some of the pairs of Black-headed Gulls had a couple of well-grown chicks with them, but surprisingly few of them. Had those parents been early nesters, or had all the others started at the same time but suffered some disaster (flooding? predation?) and were most of them starting on their second attempt? Suddenly there was mass panic, all the gulls flew up, and a Peregrine darted through the wheeling white wings. It didn’t seem to get any prey this time, though. Someone observed that they would all be safe from a falcon if they hunkered down, so why don’t they all stay put instead of flying up and becoming a Peregrine’s buffet? Their threat response, simply to fly in all frightening circumstances, seems a bit too generalised.

After lunch we headed south to Nel’s Hide, where we found a Swallow’s nest in the rafters. All the hide windows had been left open for the parents to fly in and out with food. We sat quietly at the far end and after a few minutes the feeding parents plucked up courage to start coming back in. There were four of five big chicks, almost ready to fledge.

The Avocets displaced by the BHGs have decamped to Nel’s Pool.

We watched the antics of three or four pairs with well-grown chicks. One pair were threatening a flotilla of about six Mallards and another was seeing off one of our target birds, the Cattle Egret.

We had looked amongst the grazing cows earlier and not seen it, but here it was, sitting alone, nowhere near the cattle, which had moved on. I have never seen one NOT in amongst the legs of cows before. Nearby was a Little Egret, and to make the set, a Great Egret flew over, wheeled, but we didn’t see where it had landed.

Sadly, no sign of the Glossy Ibis, which had been reported there all week, including early that same morning. So we headed back to the bus, but there were still some interesting sights to see in the hedgerows. The low vegetation held patches of little banded snails, the biggest about half an inch (1.3 cm) and some as small as ¼” or less (3mm). Were they something special? No, they seem to have been White-lipped Banded Snails, which are quite common.

This little beastie appears to be a Common Froghopper, caught in the act of blowing “cuckoo spit”.

On the edge of the pavement in Marshside Road, amazingly, a Bee Orchid.

And lastly, the colony of House Sparrows in garden next to the Fernley Observatory and the returning bus stop, was showing off several fluffy fledglings.

Public transport details: Train from Central at 10.08, arriving Southport at 10.54. Then the 44 bus from Hoghton Street (opposite the Little Theatre) at 11.25, arriving 11.35 at Elswick Road / Preesall Close. Returned on the 44 bus from Marshside Rd / Elswick Rd on the 44 at 2.25, getting back to the Little Theatre at 2.35, then the train back to Liverpool at 2.43.

Today we visited four gardens in the Sefton Park area as part of the National Garden Scheme, but since none of them opened until noon, we visited Toxteth Park Cemetery first and wandered about in the warm sunshine. The only trees of note were a row of about eight mature Weeping Ashes, more than we’ve ever seen together before. There wasn’t much wildlife about – we were close to the city centre in a very built-up area after all – but we noted a Grey Squirrel, Starlings, Wood Pigeons, a Carrion Crow, Swallows overhead, Blackbirds and a small flock of Goldfinches.

Our first garden was the “Community Orchard and Wildlife Garden” on Arundel Avenue. It’s the old Quaker Burial Ground, and the historic gravestones of the Society of Friends are still in situ, but it is now a garden, orchard and nature sanctuary run as a community project since February 2013. Most of the plants were cultivated varieties like Lavender, Cranesbill, and Himalayan Poppy, but they were alive with Bumble Bees. Many were Tree Bees, but we also spotted a Red-tailed and perhaps some Buff-tailed.

Number 17 Sydenham Avenue was a small private garden, open for the first time this year. There was a wonderful Black Elder growing against the shed, and the white flowers of the plant known as Hattie’s Pincushion or Masterwort (Astrantia) were hugely attractive to insects of all kinds.

Fern Grove Community Garden is on a former derelict site, where the local residents grow fruit and vegetables in raised beds, and keep bees. They were selling their own Toxteth Honey, which was delicious.

Finally, we arrived just in time for the 3pm tour at “That Bloomin’ Green Triangle”. The project was started several years ago by the residents of Ducie Street, Jermyn Street, Cairns Street and Beaconsfield Street, in opposition to the council, who were boarding up empty houses and painting them black! The local people saved their strong community by re-painting the boards in bright colours and guerrilla gardening eye-catching flowers and vegetables on every scrap of available soil. They planted a Wild Flower Meadow on ⅓ acre of derelict land in Ducie Street, which now boasts 40 species of wild plant, and at least one Common Blue butterfly.

Two houses on Cairns Street were beyond saving, so they were knocked together and turned into a community space which the residents call their “Winter Garden”. The roof has been replaced by skylights and the area is planted up with Star Jasmine, Trumpet Vine, a Tree Fern and an Antarctic Beech tree which is reaching up to the light.

Further treats were in store as we were led into the alley between Cairns Street and Beaconsfield Street, where the residents have an amazing hidden “Alley Palley”. There are tubs of plants all along, including one tub of flowering Potato plants!  One resident, Elizabeth, had a wonderful densely-planted backyard garden which we were allowed to cram into. Architecture group Assemble won the Turner Prize in 2015 for their work with these four streets.

Public transport details: Bus 86A from Elliot Street at 10.12, arriving Smithdown Road / Salisbury Road at 10.30.  Returned from Princes Road / North Hill Street on the 26 bus as 4.10, arriving Liverpool ONE at 4.20.

It may have been the hottest day of the year in London, but in Waterloo it was drizzly, overcast and breezy.  Our first stop was the small green area known as Potter’s Barn. The buildings, a gate house, coach house and stables, were built in 1841 by a Liverpool merchant called William Potter, intending them to be part of a grand coastal estate. Unfortunately his business ran into financial difficulties and the project advanced no further.  Potter was a military history buff and so his buildings are replicas of the farmhouse called La Haye Sainte, a crucial strategic outpost on the battlefield of Waterloo in 1815. They are now Grade II-listed.

There wasn’t much to see in the park, but we noted that several small Laburnum trees had very short hanging flowers. Perhaps some unknown variety? The shrub Japanese Snowbell Styrax japonicus was flowering profusely.

There is a tiny nature reserve next to the Lakeside Adventure Centre, with wooden boardwalks over marshy ground. The trees were Alder, Willow and Elder, with an undergrowth of Nettle, Bramble, Coltsfoot leaves, Red Campion, Ragwort, Buttercups and Hogweed.

A Common Tern was hunting over the Marina and some House Martins zipped around overhead. There are Swifts in the Crosby area (I have had four over my garden for about a week now) but we didn’t see them down by the shore. There was a Collared Dove on a TV aerial and the usual flocks of Starlings on the grass.

Nothing exciting on the Boating Lake, just the usual Mallards, Coots, Canada Geese and dozens of juvenile Herring Gulls. There were more Mute Swans than normal, though, about a dozen of them, equally divided between adults and juveniles. One adult had a green Darvic ring on its right leg, CLL9, which I have reported to the North West Swan Study. They have passed the sighting on to Cheshire, as it’s one of theirs. One of the juveniles had a blue ring, but it wouldn’t co-operate so we didn’t get the number. (Added 4th June: David Cookson of the Cheshire Swan Study advised that CLL9 was ringed as a male cygnet on 19 Dec 2017 at Spike Island, Widnes. Steve Christmas of the NW Swan Study was in Crosby on 3rd and had another look. He said “The blue ringed cygnet is 4DCS which was ringed at Sefton Park, Liverpool on 19 Sep 2018. There was also 4CLP, which was ringed as an adult male at Leasowe Golf Club on 17 Mar 2017 and another green ringed bird CNH3 whose details I have sent to the Cheshire Swan Study”).

The thick hedges in Crescent Gardens were a-twitter with House Sparrows. The Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens have been working hard with litter-picking and plantings, and the Poppies around the rockery were splendid, as was the Yellow Bush Lupin Lupinus arboreus.

This unusual yellow-flowered shrub was emitting a powerful perfume. It’s Jerusalem Sage, Phlomis fruticosa.

Then we walked northwards up the beach looking at the Iron Men. Liverpool FC have won something or other, apparently, and there is reputed to be an Iron Man in celebratory clothing, but we couldn’t see it.

This picture is by Steve Rice from a local Facebook group.

Public transport details: Bus 53 from Queen Square at 10.02, arriving Crosby Road South / Marlborough Road at 10.35. Returned on the 53 from Oxford Road / Brooke Road West at 2.02.

Well, that was an odd day. It was wet and drizzly for a start, and we were forced out of Liverpool by the Marathon, which had closed some roads and disrupted many buses. So we took the first Wirral train that came, ending up in West Kirby, where there wasn’t all that much to see. The tide was out, and some people were setting off over the sands for Little Eye, although it wasn’t an officially recommended day.

Just by the Dee Lane slipway was a large clump of yellow flowers, which was some kind of crucifer. It was 3 or 4 foot high with “double bobble” seed pods. I suspect it was White Mustard, but it’s hard to be sure.

There was a very brisk breeze, and the Herring Gulls were hanging on the onshore wind, hovering and gliding with consummate ease. A Cormorant was diving and feeding in the Marine Lake. Only a few very hardy yachtsmen were out, but it was ideal conditions for the sailboarders, who scudded along at high speed, leaving long churning wakes

On the far side of Coronation Gardens was an unusual tree,  a Persian Ironwood. It has been donated by the Friends, and we wouldn’t have recognised it if it hadn’t been marked by a special sign. It’s half bare and appears to be struggling in the salty onshore wind.

House Sparrows pecked about in the streets near Ashton Park. A pair of Coots on the lake had raised four chicks, and there were the usual Mallards and Canada Geese, although we haven’t seen the resident Muscovy Duck for a couple of years. A Robin perched on the signpost for the Wirral Way

We lunched in the “Secret Garden”, which wasn’t that hard to find, although we’ve never noticed it before!  There were Great Tits and Chaffinches in the trees, Blackbirds on the lawns and a blossoming pink Midland Hawthorn, which is probably the variety ‘Paul’s Scarlet’.

We returned via Morrison’s supermarket and Sandlea Park. A perky Pied Wagtail scurried about on the grass at super-charged speed.

Part of the grass was strewn with what appeared to be black caterpillars, but they were the fallen catkins from the Walnut trees.

On the east lawn was a raised bed marked “Incredible Edibles”. What a lot of interesting culinary plants! Blue Sage, Celery, Fennel, Globe Artichoke, a variegated mint that smelled of ginger, chives, blackcurrant, cultivated blackberry, and strawberries with pink flowers. A pair of Harlequin ladybirds were doing their bit to propagate their kind.

Public transport details: Train from Liverpool Central at 10.05, arriving West Kirby at 10.35. Returned on the train at 2.00, arriving Central at 2.35

Today we walked three and a half miles of the Liverpool Loop Line, a green corridor through the city suburbs from Aintree to Halewood. It is the old route of the Cheshire Lines railway, which was abandoned by British Rail in 1964. It became quite derelict until 1986 when plans were drawn up for its conversion to a walking and cycling route. Construction began in 1988, and the final section to Aintree opened in 2000. It is now National Cycle Network route 62 managed by Sustrans, and is part of the Trans Pennine Trail. Direction signs for both appear at main access points.

We were passed by many cyclists, a few runners and a few family parties out for a stroll, but mostly we had it all to ourselves. It was a wonderful day for wildflowers, with Cow Parsley lining the path. Most of the Dandelions had gone to seed, and we also noted one of the Sow Thistles, what was possibly Hedge Mustard, Wild Garlic, Green Alkanet, Dog Rose, Three-cornered Leek. Forget-me-Not, yellow and orange Welsh Poppies, Wood Avens, Buttercups, Bindweed, Comfrey, the remains of Spanish Bluebells (some white, some pink), the leaves of Coltsfoot, Garlic Mustard, Red Clover, Red Campion and White Dead-nettle.

In the shady damp spots under bridges and in wet ditches were large carpets of European Speedwell or Brooklime, whose Latin name is the memorable Veronica beccabunga.

There were lots of Stinging Nettles too, many with ladybirds sunning themselves on the leaves. They seemed to be all the invasive Harlequin ladybirds. The nettles were flowering, and they come in both male and female plants. Apparently the male catkins are purplish, so these must be them.

A Blackthorn tree had some young sloes just forming, but many were distorted and rotten-looking. This must be the fungal infection Taphrina pruni, which is closely related to T. padi, which we saw distorting Cherry Plums a few weeks ago. On Blackthorn it causes cashew-shaped galls which are sometimes called “Pocket Plums” because the fungus destroys the stone and seed leaving an indentation. It’s bad news for the foragers who will be hoping to make sloe gin in the autumn!

Blackbirds and Robins sang us all the way along. The hedges had plenty of Great Tits, Blue Tits, Chaffinches and Wrens and we heard a Greenfinch singing. Occasional timid Dunnocks crept out onto the path when it was quiet. A Whitethroat was singing in a high bare tree and a Song Thrush joined in from a less-obvious perch.

The trees lining the path were mostly native Hazel, Birch, Willow, Oak and Ash. There was Elder lower down, with the flowers just starting to open. In one place was a bright yellow Laburnum and another junction had a large stately Silver Pendent Lime. A dense spherical tuft in a Birch made us consider Mistletoe, but it had Birch leaves on it, so it was just Witch’s Broom. A small bird flew out of it, so might have been nesting there. South of the M62 there was a Magpie feeding on something on the path. A sad Corpse of the Day, probably a nestling Blackbird (and rather too gory-looking for a close-up). After we passed, the Magpie came back to its lunch

The only butterfly of the day was a Holly Blue near Well Lane. Past Lyndene Park we heard a bird singing very melodiously between flitting back and forth, but it was neither a Robin nor a Blackbird. A Blackcap! We only had a glimpse, but it was enough to be sure. We don’t see many of those.

We left the path at Belle Vale Road and went into the little park there, where there is a large Turkey Oak. Most of the catkins were brown and shrivelled, but a few seemed to be developing small red or black berries. Were they some kind of gall? I have consulted “Oak Galls in Britain” by Robin Williams, which is available on line.

Only three Andricus wasps produce galls on Turkey Oak catkins, and these must have been one of the rarer ones, the sexual generation of Andricus grossulariae. The galls are said to be “5.5 x 7mm, unilocular but found in numbers together; deep purple; rounded, with point.” That looks right. Later in the year the wasp will also have an asexual phase in acorn cups producing “agamic galls”. There are only 23 records of it on the NBN atlas, most in the Midlands and two or three near Glasgow. The wasp is moving north since its arrival in Britain in 2000.

Public transport details: Bus 10A from Queen Square bus station at 10.02, arriving East Prescot Road / Chatterton Road at 10.22. Returned from Rose Brow / Woolton Hill Road on the 75 at 2.31, arriving city centre at 2.55.

Kirkby was originally a quiet old village near Liverpool, but a new housing estate was built there in the 1960s. The name is Scandinavian, from the Old Norse word elements ‘kirkja’ and ‘byr’, meaning ‘church’ and ‘village’. Kirkby is another Merseyside place with a proud Viking heritage, exemplified by the design of a longship in the gate of their newest park.

Opposite the church of St Chad, the Millennium Green had a profusion of Red Campion, the only flowers remaining from the civic wildflower planting of a few years ago. Some flowers were a darker red, and others were white.

The edges of the green were clothed in Cow Parsley, and several butterflies were out in the sun – Small White, Orange Tip and our first Small Copper of the year, sipping on a Daisy.

The church of St Chad has an ancient foundation, preceding the Norman conquest, and the church in Kirkby is recorded in the Domesday Book. The font is early Norman and is considered to be the oldest man-made object in Kirkby. The present church was built in about 1870 by the Molyneux family, the Earls of Sefton, and many of them are buried in the graveyard at the west end. Oddly, the Molyneux gravestones have been neatly boxed in new chipboard, perhaps as protection preceding restoration. The effect is rather spooky, though.

Our main goal at St Chad’s was to see if the Peregrine Falcons were nesting in the belfry again. They were indeed, and we spotted one adult on the louvers, listening intently to something calling within.  Before I could take a picture, the 11.45 bells rang out loudly and suddenly, the Peregrines shrieked in outrage, and three of them flew off. Two parents and one chick? Soon afterwards we spotted a young one on a buttress roof, but the adults didn’t return while we were waiting.

Not long before the 11.45 bongs we had also been looking at the hopper at the top of a drainpipe, where we had seen a Kestrel nesting a few years ago. Something was sitting in it, well down, but all we could see was a grey and black tail. Could it have been a Sparrowhawk? It must also have flown off when the bells rang, and we didn’t see it again

There were Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws flying about, and a Robin in the shrubbery. In the brook below the church someone had abandoned a supermarket trolley, which was lying on its side. A Nuthatch took advantage of the low perch and came down for a drink. A Holly Blue butterfly flew busily past and the shady old area of gravestones at the southern end was a mass of Wild Garlic.

Just south of the church is a little park called St Chad’s Gardens, where we had our lunch. The specimen trees there have been planted with care and taste. A pair of Turkish Hazels flank the entrance, and there are several Red Horse Chestnuts Aesculus x carnea, which is an artificial hybrid between Red Buckeye and ordinary white Horse Chestnut.

There is also a young Dawn Redwood, a medium-sized Deodar Cedar standing alone and beautiful on a lawn, and several yellow Sycamores, the variety ‘Brilliantissimum’, which look pink in close-up.

The only problem is the failed Laburnum arch. A few years ago they put in the metal arch, planted the young Laburnum trees and then failed to train them over the sides and top of the arch. The trees have simply grown up alongside, reaching in the wrong direction, towards the light. A casualty of the cuts to council services, I suppose. What a pity.

Most of the ordinary Ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) appear to be very late into leaf this year, with the first leaves just unfolding. Weeping Ashes are even later, with two near me in Crosby just showing the first buds breaking. However, the Manna Ashes (Fraxinus ornus) have been in full leaf and flower for a week or two. Could the slow ones be infected with Ash Dieback disease? The disease takes several years to weaken the trees, apparently. Are we going to lose all our Ashes? Denmark has lost 95% of theirs. According to the government’s Forest Research website, ordinary and weeping Ashes are susceptible, as is Narrow-leaved Ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) but Manna Ash might prove to be tolerant.

We ended the day in Millennium park, next to the church. There were rabbit droppings on all the bare patches of flattened molehills. We explored a wide grassy ride near the north end, which was lovely, as well as being quiet and deserted. Was everyone indoors watching the big football match? There were lots of butterflies about, including Small Whites, a fast-moving Brimstone, several Orange Tips and this well-worn ragged Peacock.

It was so quiet that a few Rabbits started emerging from the shrubberies, out onto the grass.

In the small reedy wetland area along the Simonswood Brook we thought we heard a Sedge Warbler. John also spotted a Goldfinch and a Tree Sparrow. There were plenty of tadpoles in the pond.

Public transport details: Bus 20 from Queen Square at 10.10, arriving Kirkby Row / Old Hall Lane 10.55. Returned from Kirby Row / James Holt Avenue on the 21 bus at 2.20, arriving Liverpool 3.10.

Overlooking the southern end of Port Sunlight’s dell, just outside the station, is this very droopy conifer, which we have never yet made a determined effort to identify. The most obvious candidate is the famously droopy Brewer Spruce, Picea breweriana, named after a Mr Brewer and nothing whatsoever to do with the effects of drinking too much beer.

I think it must indeed be a Brewer Spruce, everything matches the book. The twigs fall straight down from the branches, the male flowers were dropping copious pollen and last year’s cones were the typical leathery, curved spruce type, about 4″ (10cm) long with stains of white resin.

We noted the Honey Locust and a fastigiate Beech, and stopped again at a handsome small tree with green and brown heart-shaped leaves. This seems very likely to be a young Dove Tree Davidia involucra, also called the Handkerchief Tree. It doesn’t seem to be flowering this year, but they flower when quite young, so maybe one of these years it will positively identify itself!

In the tall Tulip Tree we spotted a fast-moving Grey Squirrel with a young bird in its mouth, possibly a Blue Tit nestling. We watched it to see if it would go back to predate another one from the same brood, but it was last seen being scolded by Blackbirds under the bridge, whose two young ones were fledged, hopping about and thus relatively safe.  There were three Mistle Thrushes on the lawn, two parents with a single fledgling. A poor brood for them. Did the Squirrel get the others? I love how they cock their heads as if they are listening for worms.

Past Hulme Hall, with their light-leaved ‘Brilliantissimum’ Sycamores in flower, and up to the Hillsborough Memorial Garden overlooking the Rose Garden and the Lady Lever art gallery. They usually plant it up in red and white, Liverpool FC’s colours.

On either side of the Rose Garden are long avenues of Lime trees. Their identification still eludes us. They have no twiggy growth at their bases so they aren’t Common Limes. The flowers are just coming out, and they aren’t sticking out in all directions, so they aren’t Small-Leaved Limes. The leaves are smallish and thin, so they probably aren’t Large-leaved Limes, and the undersides of the leaves aren’t noticeably white and downy, so they aren’t Silver Limes. Are they Caucasian Limes? American Basswoods? No idea. We were dragged away from this contemplation by loud bird calls overhead, where a Buzzard was being mobbed by a pair of Crows, and it was circling higher and higher to try and get away from them

After lunch we cut through to Greendale Road, where the Judas Tree Cersis siliquastrum, between numbers 32 and 33, was in full flower, the little pink blooms springing straight from the wood.

New Ferry Butterfly Park was having an Open Day. There were tents from the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Friends of Port Sunlight River Park and many others. They had plant sales, a Maypole, Morris Dancing and the Mayor and Mayoress were there to grace it all. The Butterfly Park has just won the Community Impact Award at the Echo Environment Awards, which might explain the attention. We have never seen it so crowded.

One of their volunteers, John McGaw, is an arachnophile, a Spider Man. He had several live specimens on display, which he had found in the park the day before and kept in kitchen containers for the show. Here are four of them.
A Woodlouse Spider, Dysdera crocata which has strong jaws which can crack and eat woodlice.

A female Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis. Before mating the male brings the female a wrapped gift of food to reduce the chances of her eating him afterwards.

A Black Lace-weaver Amaurobius ferox, the one that makes lacy cobwebs in your old flower pots.

Finally, in a Kilner jar, a False Widow Spider, Steatoda nobilis. Overnight she had woven a nest and laid eggs.

We happily pottered about the wilder end of the area, noting Alder Buckthorn just coming into flower. The white flower in the herb garden wasn’t Cow Parsley as we first thought, but Sweet Cicely which smelled of aniseed. We appear to be at the peak of the Hawthorn (May) blossom, and it attracted several butterflies. As usual the Orange Tip was too fast for me but this Speckled Wood behaved more sedately.

And the pond was its usual interesting spot, with pond skaters, water boatmen and very many Newts, which I think are Smooth Newts.

Public transport details: Train from Central Station towards Chester at 10.15, arriving Port Sunlight 10.30. Returned from Bebington Station at 2.55, arriving Central at 3.15.